Mac OS X 10.5 Help
Setting up and adjusting Time Machine
You use the Time Machine pane of System Preferences to set up automatic backups. If you’ve already set up Time Machine, you can change to a different backup disk, or adjust other settings.
To set up or adjust Time Machine:
Slide the switch to ON.
Click “Change Disk.”
Choose a disk where backups will be stored, and click “Use for Backup.”
Any disk attached to your computer that can be used to store backups is listed. The list includes internal hard disks except for your startup disk, and most external disks. If you have partitioned a disk, the partitions are listed.
iPods and iDisks can’t be used for Time Machine backups.
When Time Machine performs the first backup of your system, it may take a while. You may want to set up Time Machine in the evening so that the initial backup can be done overnight. Subsequent backups take less time because only items that have changed are backed up.
Note: Time Machine works best if you use your backup disk only for Time Machine backups. If you keep files on your backup disk, Time Machine won’t back up those files, and the space available for Time Machine backups will be reduced.